Storm season proves the nanny state has arrived

Published 6:33 pm, Friday, February 22, 2013

Did you get one of those phone messages telling you that snow means you need to take serious precautions?

What's that? You say you got several?

Two from your town and one from the state?

A new one almost every day -- before, during, and after the storm?

Yes, the disemboweled voice of state and local government has been leaving thousands of messages all over Connecticut in recent days telling us that snow, ice, and rain are upon us like plagues of locusts, or possibly vipers, and we'd better get ready, ponder the parade of imaginary horribles, and stand by for the next Edvard Munchian prophecy from WFSB-TV3's Scot Haney.

Did you hear the governor on TV?

He's worried about us. He wants us to stay in and be good.

In fact he's ordering us. When the roads are impassable, stay off the roads!

Yes, Sir! Thank you, Sir.

Button up your overcoat When the wind is free.

Take good care of yourself.

You belong to me.

Where once these were romantic words sung by one betrothed to another, they are now the slogan of Big Brother.

If you must drive, be very afraid. Keep the speedometer at 2 to 5 mph.

Don't shovel too much. You might have a coronary.

Don't not shovel. You might get trapped in your house when you are having a coronary.

Get tomorrow morning's shower now, since you might lose power tonight.

Have you purchased enough frozen food? This could be a long siege. You could be at home with your family ... for a day.

And for heaven's sake don't go ice skating or sledding. You could fall though the ice or run into a tree.

All these things really can happen. And have happened.

Stay in bed.

But keep the TV on.

If you open the door to check out Armageddon, beware of snow falling from rooftops.

These are not the warnings of Chicken Little or your friendly neighborhood paranoid but your state and local officials.

The Nanny State is here to guide and counsel you because the folks in government, and on the local TV news, are pretty sure you can't figure much out for yourself.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo seems like he would be alarmed at the average person opening a can of cat food while at home alone.

Would our grandparents have put up with such nonsense, coddling, and condescension from public officials? It's hard to imagine.

In 1932 or 1942 people weren't huddled around the radio waiting for the latest instruction on how to handle such startling developments as snowfall during winter in New England. They had real worries and better things to do.

And their public officials imagined their fellow citizens to be, while slightly less than the angels, slightly more than a confederacy of dunces.